Lift Me Up
by Chasing Liquor
Summary: Last Man tag. "It's always going to be there, isn't it? All the time." McKeller.


**Disclaimer**: MGM has their logo on DVDs. I have... a fledgling bank account and a name tag at charity benefits. The inference should be clear.

**Spoilers:** The Last Man

**Description:** Takes place during the original timeline in The Last Man; a snapshot of Rodney and Jennifer on their trip home on Daedalus.

**A/N**: Once more, I was inspired to write this by a song. I struggled with whether to keep or cut the excerpt to avoid sentimentality, but I couldn't help myself. I hope you enjoy this offering, and be sure to leave a review and let me know what you think.

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**Lift Me Up**

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"It's always going to be there, isn't it? All the time. It used to be there were places to put things. I could at least pretend. But no matter how hard I try now, I just… I can't…"

Keller slid closer to him on the edge of the bed, stopping with just enough space so that they weren't touching. He kept his eyes trained on the far wall, hands pressed palm-down unnaturally on his legs.

"The pretending's just as bad," she said quietly, finding herself staring at the tops of his hands. "It's counterfeit living."

McKay dipped his head down, counting the colors in the Daedalus patch on his flight suit. It was a wider spectrum than he'd thought, and brighter too. He decided it looked better on her.

"I doubt it could be worse than this."

Keller frowned dourly.

"If you pretend for long enough, you lose everything that's left."

McKay looked forward again, his shoulders hunching down further, his face lifeless as his empty tongue spat out the dark nothing of space.

"That's just it. There's nothing more _to_ lose. They took it all."

Keller stared down at his hands still, which were as steady as they ever had been, and she half-expected to smell the scent of formaldehyde after his cold and hollow words. She wouldn't stand for it, though. She wouldn't let him crawl into his coffin, wouldn't let him shovel the dirt, when he was the only thing standing 'tween her flesh and bone and the vile, red-rimmed night.

"No. You're wrong," she said earnestly, reaching a trembling hand across to his far cheek, clumsily turning his face toward hers. "There's always something left."

McKay's stoic expression disappeared, like an illusionist into smoke, and he found himself plainly terrified by the hunger and need which shone in her eyes, rippling pools not entirely unlike the Stargate, though her irises led to more sacred places.

Keller tried to stroke his face, but found that her hand – mimicking an old woman's rheumatism – wasn't up to the task. So she let it drift into the hair above his ear, where she flattened it as best she could.

"I – I don't… what are you…"

"Don't say anything," she whispered, her other hand touching his neck, which burned beneath her fingers. "Just feel that."

He closed his eyes and obliged her, and she savored the shudder that rushed through him. Her other hand found his face again, a little steadier this time as she traced the faint scar of an old laceration.

"I can't do it alone, Rodney," she murmured defenselessly. "It would kill me just to try."

McKay's eyes opened, occupied by an undead specter, reverting back to an ancient time, and it was for Keller like looking through a deep space telescope at the million year-old light of some far-off nebula. His forehead, sloped it seemed like an ancestor's, floated forward until it grazed hers.

"Don't," he said. "Please don't ever try."

She nodded against him in a manner close to a promise, and then their lips brushed, his like sandpaper and hers like a stream, and both knew in an instant that the pretending was over.

_When the morning bright  
lifts away this night  
In the light above  
we will find our love, we will find our love  
_

_Your skin, your hand upon my neck  
This skin, your fingers on my skin  
This kiss, this heartbeat, this breath  
This heart, this heart, this wilderness  
Lift me up, darling  
Lift me up, and I'll fall with you, lift me up  
Let your love lift me up_


End file.
